Let’s be athletes. The Olympic games ate about to start. We’re going to watch some sport, I hope so, and maybe, in this precise moment, we don’t care much about the style adopted by sportsmen and sportswomen. We care about the attitude they (an we) will have to approach these Olympics one year later. We hope we’ll breathe a sigh of relief and focus our energies on the passions and emotions that the pandemic has stolen from us. Concerning my “style advice”, let the pictures talk. And may the best one win.

Blue tie. The tribute by Giovanni Gastel to Richard Avedon, for Style Magazine (2010). “Severe” light, off-white background. The models’ action counterposes the solemnity of the tribute of a great photographer to a popular predecessor. The models, like they’re dancing, seem not to care about the mess they create in the clothes: the movements dissolve the severity of a normally impeccable attire as the tuxedo is. Out of the fashion sets, in real life, we can imagine a similar ease choosing a different way of “wearing the evening”: for example, breaking black with blue.

In double-breasted. This week’s picture is a frame of the movie I believe in you, set in London during the postwar period. The main character wears with self-confidence the double-breasted jacket, that way of dress of the gangsters typical of the late 40s, that oriented the fashion of great designers such as Armani and Versace. The gangster figure – from Scarface (the original one, directed by Howard Hawks in 1932) to Borsalino, Chinatown and dozens of other popular movies – has a particular appeal that in the collective consciousness refers to a specific style. Today the double-breasted lasts and is the guarantor of an elegant and refined, not necessarily too formal, attire. The lapels are shawl or peak, but narrower than then. To respect the proportions, the shirt has to have a little collar. The same for the tie. A frame from the movie I believe in you, 1952

Friendly Classic. Living fashion with an easier approach. In other words: integrating a male aesthetic that mixes everyday clothes with more informal garments we wear only at home. I’ve always been annoyed by this kind of mix, in fact I’ve always looked askance at my colleagues that wear sneakers with the suit. But – partly – I have to change idea. Homewear mixed in the right amount with more classic garments suits me a little bit more now: maybe because I’m a fashion victim too and I’ve got used to such a young trend even if I’m a conservative at heart. It’s true that today lots of designers offer a kind of clothing that lies between sportswear and comfort. Basically, the strong effect of the techno/classic (the shiny blue lycra trousers with the blue coat: what a horror!) is softened, to advantage of a more friendly american style translated in contemporary taste. Ok, I like it.